Anger Management Equals Love
by Green Hot Jalapeno Peppers
Summary: After accidentally sending someone into a coma, Tsunade sends Sakura to anger management. Sakura begins to learn more about herself, not to mention falling in love with a certain red hair boy.
1. Starting Point

**Anger Management Equals Love**

**By **

**Green Hot Jalapeno Peppers**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Summary: **After accidentally sending someone into a coma, Tsunade sends her to anger management. Sakura begins to learn more about herself, not to mention falling in love with a certain red hair boy.

**Note: Italics are either thought or flashback. I'm sure you can figure it out.**

**Session 1: Give a big hello to…**

Sakura was sitting on a chair outside of Tsunade's office waiting for her turn to be called inside. She sat there with her arms folded on her lap with her hair neatly tucked behind her ears. Looking around, she watched the people around her go about their business with no much interest.

_Geez, I feel like I am back in elementary school and I'm waiting to be called into the principal's office. I am a grown woman for chrissake. A top medic-nin._

The atmosphere was tense, and Sakura could feel her impending doom when Tsunade finds out what she did. Her palms were sweaty and she could feel her face burning up. It didn't help that the only sound she could her was the ringing in her ears from the silence.

_It's not like I meant to send him into a coma. He was just being so stubborn about taking his medicine and I was getting so mad at him. When I went to hand him his water he hit it off of my hand. How was I supposed to know that it would bounce off the floor, ricochet off of his heart monitor, and hit his face knocking him unconscious? _

She sighed at the situation. No one was going to believe her side of the story. There happened to be a nurse who heard her yell at the man, and rushed in to see what the problem was only to see the cup hit him directly on the face. The nurse pretty much thought that she threw the cup at him, and sent her to Tsunade's office like a naughty child.

Sakura could hear the click of the door and saw the nurse exit. She had a big smirk on her face that said: _You're in for it now. You are going to be in so much trouble_. She brushed past Sakura and purposely bumped into her before leaving.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at her before she left the building, and heard Tsunade calling her into the office.

"Sakura, you can come in now."

Now Sakura definitely felt like a child. She entered the office shyly, even though she was good friends with the blond Hokage. Walking with her head down she took the seat in front of Tsunade.

"Now…in your own words, explain why you sent someone into a coma." Despite Tsunade's soft words, Sakura could see that aggravation was clearly written all of her face. Massaging her forehead, Tsunade took another sip of sake.

Sakura could understand why she was upset. Tsunade was the one who had to explain to the man's family that he is in a coma, and the headlines would be all over this scandal. Not to mention the reputation of the Konoha hospital was pretty much ruined. If she was Tsunade she would be spitting balls of fire also.

"Well…," Sakura started slowly, "I was doing my rounds, and the last person I had to check up on was Shintaro Katsu. The man who is unconscious. He kept complaining about how much he hated taking his pills, and that from now on he wasn't going to take it anymore. I calmly tried telling him that he has to take it in order to get better. I do admit I regret getting into a heated argument with him and yelling at him, but I didn't hit him with the cup. He finally took the pills. He took them, but he wasn't happy about it. So when I went to give him a cup of water, he knocked it off of my hands."

Sakura paused for a second. This was going to be the hardest part to say considering how farfetched it would sound. What were the chances of it bouncing off the floor, ricocheting off of his heart monitor, and hitting him directly in the forehead?

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, silently telling her to continue her story.

"I know this sounds farfetched but… the cup then bounced off the floor, ricocheted off his heart monitor, and hit him in the head knocking him unconscious." Sakura said as fast as she could.

Tsunade looked at her in disbelief, "…what?"

"I said-

"Yeah I know what you said but….wow…what are the chances of that. Amazing."

Sakura could feel like hitting her head on the desk. Only Tsunade could turn a serious situation like this into a comedy hour.

"So… you believe me?"

"Why? Are you lying to me?" She looked at Sakura suspiciously.

"N-No! It's just that I was so scared you wouldn't because well…it sounds so …farfetched."

"Sakura," her eyes softened, "You were my apprentice. I am pretty sure I can tell when you are lying and when you aren't. I have a lot of trust in you, and I wouldn't expect you to lie about something like this."

Sakura could feel a huge weight lift off her shoulders. She was terribly sorry about what had happened to the man, but she didn't want to get suspended from the hospital or worse…go to jail for something she didn't do.

Thinking she was off the hook, Sakura got off of the chair. She took a few steps when she was interrupted by the Hokage.

"Where do you think you are going? You aren't off the hook yet. Sit your tush back down."

Sakura nervously turned around and sat back down, awaiting her doom.

"Unfortunately the man is unconscious so he cannot testify what happened, and I am pretty sure I am going to be the only one who is going to believe you so I have to give you a punishment. You are to have three months of anger management."

Sakura groaned and flopped onto her desk, "Tsunade, anything but that….please!

Tsunade interrupted her, "No buts. You should thank me. I'm the one who has to sort out this mess and all you have to do is withstand three months of anger management. It could be so much worse. Believe me.

If it makes you feel better, you probably need it with the way you loose your temper sometimes. You might learn something out of it."

"Thanks Tsunade. You REALLY know how to make someone feel better. Is that all?"

"Yes. You may leave now." Tsunade continued with her work and Sakura was about to leave through the door when Tsunade interrupted again.

"Oh and by they way Sakura. Your sessions start tomorrow."

--

Sakura sighed as she leaned over her bowl of ramen. Picking up her chopsticks she began picking at the noodles.

_You are to have three months of anger management._

Just the thought of spending pointless hours talking about her "feelings" made her feel like punching something. She began taking her anger out on the noodles, stabbing at them furiously.

"Whoa there Sakura-Chan. Put the chopsticks down and take three deep breaths," Walking inside the Ichiraku, Naruto took a seat beside his friend. After spinning around in his chair for fun, he finally ordered a chicken bowl.

He could feel anger seething out of Sakura, and he silently began to wonder if it was the right choice picking the seat right next to her.

Every Friday Naruto and Sakura would meet at the Ichiraku to catch up on each others lives. Sakura knew that they were growing up and they would be seeing less and less of each other so she made Naruto promise that they would have lunch together every day at the Ichiraku.

"What's the matter Sakura-chan? Seeing you take your anger out on my precious ramen must mean you are super pissed off today," Glancing around suspiciously Naruto leaned closer to Sakura, "Is there a guy that is harassing you? Do you need me to take care of him?"

Sakura sighed again, "No it's not that… it's just…why don't we talk about it later. How is Hinata these days? Still going steady?"

"She is good. We just celebrated our six month anniversary last night."

"Oh really? What did you get her?"

"Well Hinata isn't much of a material person so I just promised her I would spend the rest of my life with her…then she fainted.

"Let me guess. You forgot it was your six month anniversary, and you didn't have any money to buy her anything."

Naruto hung his head in shame, "Yeah…but how am I supposed to keep up with you ladies and your monthly anniversaries."

Sakura smirked at his comment and asked what he got from Hinata. She could have sworn she saw Naruto turn twenty shades of pink. He gave her his hand and she noticed that there was a bracelet around his wrist. It was a piece of pink thread and on it were a bunch of pink heart and the letters h and n.

Sakura let out a loud laugh when she saw how cute Naruto was being about it.

"It's bad enough I have to wear it you know. Hinata made me promise to wear it all the time, even when I go on missions. Why did I have to decide the keeping my promises is "my way of the ninja"?"

Sakura laughed even louder and Naruto decided it was time to change the subject, "So how was your day at the hospital?"

He knew he hit a sore spot for her when he noticed that she kept quiet and continued picking at her ramen, much to Naruto's displeasure.

Naruto had noticed that she has been really irritated ever since her meeting with Tsunade. He had heard what had happened with Sakura and her patient. Word spreads fast when you live in a village.

"Aw. C'mon Sakura-chan, it can't be that bad. What is your punishment?"

At first Sakura thought of not telling anyone about her punishment. She really didn't want it to be spreading around the village anytime soon, but Naruto's curiosity made him determined to find out what it was. He annoyed her until she told him.

Putting down her chopsticks, Sakura motioned for him to come closer, "I'm going to whisper it to you, but you have to PROMISE that you won't tell anyone."

"I promise"

"Well… I have to take three months of anger management." She whispered into his ear."

"Uhh… sorry, I missed that."

"You idiot," she said whispering it into his ear again; "I have to take three months of anger management."

"Geez Sakura I can barely hear you. Speak up."

Sakura could feel her blood boiling, "I SAID I AM TAKING ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASSES!"

Naruto's eyes widened for a few seconds before everything sunk in and he was grinning like the Cheshire cat. She could hear him snickering before finally falling on the floor laughing.

After finally getting the punch of death from Sakura, Naruto finally picked himself up and sat in a chair at least five feet away from her. He knew she was pretty much in a homicidal mood for laughing at her. "You know Sakura, as much as I laughed, it really didn't surprise me."

She sent him a glare, "What could you possible mean by that? I'm one of the nicest and not to mention calmest people in Konoha…aren't I?"

"Of course you are Sakura-chan…it's just that sometimes you can get…scary. Especially when you are mad."

Sakura gave him a look of disbelief, "When have I ever been scary?"

"Remember when you found Sasuke and Ino at the café having coffee together. You went crazy and jumped through the glass window, when you clearly could have gone through the door-

Sakura cut through, "Yeah but this is love and all girls go crazy when it come to love."

"You grabbed Ino by the ponytail and you almost drowned her in the nearby fountain. When Neji and Lee tried to stop you kneed them both in the "you know what's". In the end it turns out that Ino and Sasuke were going on a mission together and they were just going over what the plan was."

"Ok, maybe I overreacted that time, but I mean it was only that one time."

"What about that time you went on a date with me and I accidentally spilled water on your skirt. You flipped over our table and literally picked me up and threw me out of the restaurant-

"It was a brand new skirt," She interrupted again.

"Sakura…you threw me threw a brick wall. It was only WATER.WATER DRIES! I was out for a week. I swear I have never been so scared and I don't think I ever will be more scared."

-"But"

"And don't think I don't know about _Inner Sakura_. When you were sleeping I heard you talking to her while we were out on a mission, and let me tell you. I really don't ever want to meet her."

Sakura gave up. She knew everything Naruto was saying was totally true. She was lucky she hasn't been already sent to anger management yet. Maybe she really did have a problem

Naruto noticed that his friend was getting upset with what he was saying. Wrapping his arm around her he gave her a hug, "I am not saying you are a bad person because you definitely are one of the nicest people I know. I am just saying don't consider this punishment as a punishment. You never know what you can gain out of it."

Sakura wiped a tear out of her eye and look at Naruto and pinched his cheek, "Since when have you been so grown up."

He let out a loud laugh and she could tell that his cheeks were tainted a little red with embarrassment, "Two more bowls, old man!"

--

Sakura was standing in front of the entrance to her group session and sighed. There were so many doubts and fears running through her head and she knew the once she opened the door there would be no turning back.

She gave a second glance at her dress, trying to decide whether she was too dressed up for the occasion. She was wearing a white dress that was two inches above her knee, and had pink flowers around it. Hearing the rain hit the windows; Sakura knew that if she went out to change her outfit would be soaked anyways.

_It's now or never._

Slowly opening the door, Sakura popped her head inside. Her face immediately lighted up when she saw a familiar face standing in the middle of a circle of plastic blue chairs.

"Kakashi!"

Upon hearing his name being called, Kakashi turned around and was just as surprised to see Sakura as she was seeing him. Flashing her a smile through his mask he gestured for her to come in.

"Hey Sakura, fancy seeing you here."

Sakura stepped inside and took a good look around. The whole place was empty except for a group of chairs that were placed in a circle, and various posters reminding people to "Be happy" or "Don't get mad…get glad."

"Where is everybody? Am I too early?"

"Yeah, kind of, but it is good because I get to spend time with my favoritest student in the world."

"Honestly Kakashi. You really have had only three students. Me, Naruto, and Sasuke…Not much competition to tell you the truth.

"Well a certain pink haired girl and loud annoying boy have been making sure that I won't be having a new team any time soon.

Sakura smiled as she remembered the time when Naruto and she found out that Kakashi was going to train a new team.

--

_"A new team?" Naruto screamed as Sakura broke the bad news to him._

_"Yeah…Team 6. Can you believe it? I feel like we are being replaced. We aren't going to be his Team 7 anymore."_

_"Well six is pretty much an unlucky number, and three sixes means the devil…Kakashi is definitely not the devil soo… we have to break the team up! Are you with me?"_

_Sakura was confused at Naruto's sense of logic, but looking for any excuse to break the team up, Sakura agree to his plan, "Yeah I am definitely with you in the "Ruin Kakashi's chance at having a normal team" plan!"_

_Picking up a stick from the ground, Naruto began drawing a diagram on the floor. "Ok. Here's what we are going to do…"_

_--_

"Aw Kakashi, you know we only did it because we love you. Anyways we did those kids a favor."

Kakashi made a gesture at his heart as if an arrow was shot into his heart causing Sakura to chuckle.

"What brings you here anyway?

Kakashi smirked at this comment, "Well you know this and that"

"Don't tell me …you beat someone up because they tried to steal your Icha Icha Paradise."

"Eh, Sort of."

Sakura hated how Kakashi always had that way of answering questions, but leaving so much out. It's like every time you ask him a question you find yourself frustrated and having more questions to ask then you began with.

Sakura and Kakashi spent the rest of the time they had alone together talking about what has happened in their lives since Team 7. When Sasuke left, Team Seven was eventually broken up, and the three remaining ninjas went their separate ways. She told him how she was currently under the training of Tsunade and how she is taking anger management because her patient accidentally knocked himself unconscious and everybody thinks it is her fault. She listened to Kakashi tell her about his interesting life sleeping and reading his book.

"You know Kaka-

She stopped herself mid-sentence when she could hear laughter erupting from the stairway. She could hear the voices coming closer and she knew that they were going to be her "group" buddies. She immediately took a seat next to Kakashi who pulled his book out of his pocket and continued reading it.

"Oh by the way Sakura, we don't refer to each other by our actual names so I suggest you come up with a nickname for yourself. We do it so that there is some sort of privacy between us and so people won't be as afraid to say what is on their mind."

Sakura saw the people enter and take a seat. Looking around she was really surprised to see that the people in the classes weren't these tough buff guys with tattoos covering their arms but normal, everyday looking people. She noticed that there was one seat left empty.

"Hey, who's the newbie with the pink hair," Sakura saw a guy with a Mohawk say. He looked at her with mild interest as he slouched on his chair.

"Shut up, you punk before I make you." Sakura found herself retorting before she had any time to stop herself.

She could see the guy starting to get mad, and opened his mouth to say something back. Before he could get something out of his mouth Kakashi told everyone to be quiet, before finally saying, "You will find out when class starts."

Sakura looked at Kakashi

_Wait a minute…don't tell me….Kakashi is the leader of this group session?_

She could feel her face heat up with embarrassment. Great... Now _I bet Kakashi now thinks I am some violent, psycho crazy chick_.

Sakura decided not to say anything until class started again.

"Ok, we have a new student in our group session. She is new and I want everybody to be nice to her. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Sakura got up from her chair. It made a screeching sound against the wood as she pushed it backwards a little. She looked around at the crowd of faces who were staring at her with interest except the boy with a Mohawk who looked like the second coming of Christ wouldn't even interest him

She gave them an awkward wave and cleared her throat before saying, "Hi…my name is…Lola."

**_TBC…_**


	2. Momentum

**Anger Management Equals Love**

**By **

**Green Hot Jalapeno Peppers**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Disclaimer 2**: I do not own the Anger Management terms used. I used a reference from the book Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

**Summary: **After accidentally sending someone into a coma, Tsunade sends her to anger management. Sakura begins to learn more about herself, not to mention falling in love with a certain red hair boy.

**Note: Italics are either thought or flashback. I'm sure you can figure it out.**

**Session 2: My group buddy is Ga-….WHAT!**

"Keep the bowls coming old man!" Sakura slammed down the bowl hard on the wooden table just as she finished slurping up the remainder of her of her ramen. Teuchi looked at her nervously and quickly picked up her bowl, heading towards the kitchen to refill it. Whenever Sakura went on her eating binges, it was really only comply or die.

Naruto could only sigh as Teuchi cautiously placed another bowl in front of the fuming Sakura, who wasted no time in inhaling the whole thing in one second. The way she ate made Naruto's appetite disappear, and for once he was able to turn down a bowl that was handed to him.

He knew that whenever Sakura went on an eating binge it was only because of one reason. She was embarrassed about something. Naruto knew Sakura so well that he knew that whenever her pinky began to twitch it meant she was getting upset. Their friendship had progressed so far that they could practically read each others minds.

Judging from the fact that she had just eaten her tenth bowl he knew it went bad. Very bad.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well…"

"No shit. This is only the tenth bowl I've eaten, and let me tell you I still feel like I could eat an elephant." She said in between every breath she took between her eating.

Sakura slammed the bowl onto the table again. This time Teuchi was ready with a new fresh bowl which he placed right next to her. She continued plowing through her food.

"If I wasn't forced to go to these sessions, I would never show my face in there again. Those people are crazy," she said with her mouth full.

"It was only an hour session, what you have possibly gone wrong?"

"Everything," she whispered eerily into his ear.

--

_Everyone stared at her, and Sakura could practically feel their eyes burning holes into her body. The whole room was in utter silence and Sakura felt as if they were expecting her to juggle chairs or blow fire out of her nose. She glanced at Kakashi half expecting him to tell her to sit down. Unfortunately he returned that look with a look of stupid dense-ness. _

_In a matter of mere seconds the whole room burst out laughing. Sakura could feel her face burn up; a little because of anger, but mostly from embarrassment. Feeling like a circus attraction, she turned to Kakashi giving him a mix of "help me please" with puppy dog eyes look. _

_"Is there something on my face? Did I something funny? Why is Kakashi just sitting there smiling at me? Maybe I should sit down." She thought_

_Sakura turned to sit down when she heard a voice comment about her, "Lola? What kind of name is that?"_

_She felt her head do a 360 like in the exorcist, and found herself looking at the blue haired man. Her blood began to boil, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. _

_"What did you just say?" _

_The blue hair man just shrugged innocently and smirked. Sakura just took few deep breaths and decided to ignore what he had just said._

_"Chill out LOLA…Repeat with me…Goos-fra-bah"_

_Sakura cracked. This guy obviously wanted to start a fight with her and he was going to get one. In one swift motion, Sakura kicked his chair down causing him to fall backwards. _

_He fell with a scream and a crash, and Sakura loomed over him and let all her frustration out, "Goos-fra-bah my ass you punk! I am one of the top medics IN THE COUNTRY! I will not sit here and let myself be ridiculed by a low class, do nothing, pot smoking punk like you!"_

_After a few more obscenities and a lot of screaming, Sakura raised her hand behind her head and put all her energy into a hard slap she gave him on the cheek. The whole room became silent again and everyone was once again staring at her. The man flinched, not realizing what had just happened, but after letting it sink in he put his hand to his cheek. It was bright red and it looked like it was going to form a big bruise the next day._

_Sakura gave him a smirk in triumph, expecting him to cry or at least fear her for the next three months, but the unexpected happened. Instead of a tear forming in his eye because of fear, he was crying because of how hard he was laughing at her. Again._

_Sakura knew there was something going on. The way everyone laughed as if on cue, the way Kakashi was blatantly ignoring her, and especially the way blue-ie was acting. "Ok, someone had better explain what is happening….NOW."_

_"Ah, how typical of you Sakura to figure out when something is wrong. I always knew you would figure it out, but I'm surprised at how long it took you." Kakashi lazily got up from his seat and help his injured friend up. _

_"Figure out what?"_

_"It was all a test… and you passed," the man said, "every time we get a new buddy we always pull that prank on them. We make them uncomfortable by laughing at them and finally make fun of them."_

_Sakura was getting pretty mad that her emotions were toyed with, "And what is the whole purpose of that." She said anger evident on her voice._

_"Everyone always comes here either too afraid to talk to anyone, or with that attitude like "I don't belong here because I really don't have a problem." Kakashi came up with this test to kind of let the newbie let some anger out, and boy did you let it out."_

_Brushing himself off, the man took a few steps toward Sakura with an outstretched arm, "I'm not really a pot smoking jerk, and I'm pretty sure that if you get to know me better you will find that out yourself. What do you say, truce?"_

_"Fine, but I don't want to hear anything about the name I chose. It was the best I could come up with in time I had."_

_The man laughed, "Ok. I promise."_

_"I don't mean to break up our little commune but we really have to finish up our session, and we haven't even begun our introductions. Sakura has already introduced herself now why don't we start with me. My name is Pacman and I am going to be your group leader ," Kakashi said sitting down and pointing to a girl with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes to go next._

_In total there were four people at the session, excluding Sakura, Kakashi, and the empty blue chair. _

_The girl had a big smile on her face as she got up. The girl claimed to be sixteen but she look really young for her age. She giggled the whole way to the middle of the circle, and she began playing with her fingers when she finally reached her destination, _

_"Hi…my name is Truth. I am a starving artist. I am here because I pushed my parents down three flights of stairs. "_

_Sakura felt her jaw drop. This girl looked as innocent as a baby fawn, and just hearing the words come out of her mouth as a total shock to her. The girl smiled once more and sat down. The boy next to her got up, but his attitude was the total opposite of the girl next to him. Instead of a bubbly, happy person, this boy was very shy and withdrawn. He looked at his feet the whole way up and his whole introduction was said through one long quiet whisper. _

_"Nano. I like computers. I kicked my pet dog and now my parents force me to go here."_

_The next girl got up. She was very tall and super skinny. When she walked she took long strides, causing her long blonde hair to flow gracefully behind her, "Yeah, I am Mizzy," she said taking off her sunglasses revealing her amber eyes, "I model. Used a knife to ruin the face of a fellow model who I saw kissing my ex boyfriend. That bitch went down, and let's just says her career is over." _

_Finally the blue haired man got up. Despite his punk look, and impression Sakura had gathered about him, he seemed like a very down to earth boy. _

_"Yo. Call me Question. I have to take care of my younger siblings ever since my parents died. I'm here because I killed someone, and no Lola you can not know why."_

_Sakura shut her mouth, and felt irked at how he somehow knew she was about to ask that question. He sat down and Sakura opened her mouth again, "Who sits in that empty chair?" She said referring to the empty chair between Question and Mizzy. _

_"Oh, that is Mister Grumpy" Truth sing song-ed. _

_"Mister Grumpy? Is that what he calls himself?"_

_"No No No, He calls himself... San-"_

_Kakashi interrupted her in the middle of revealing his name, "I think Sakura will have to wait till the next session to find out who he is. She certainly will be surprised, and the last thing we went to do is ruin a surprise. Isn't that right Truth?" _

_He ruffled her hair and motioned for her to sit down. She plopped down on her chair with her arms crossed in front of her chest like a child with a tantrum, obviously mad at how Kakashi treated her._

_Sakura on the other hand puffed her cheeks; she didn't like it when secrets were kept from her. Especially if they are about to be revealed, but are interrupted by an annoying smut reading sensei who could just smile at his little trick._

_"Here," Kakashi handed her a paper filled with terms, "You are going to need this to understand what we are saying. It will be hard keeping up at first but don't worry, you'll get the hang of it and soon you won't need it, but knowing you I'm pretty sure you'll be fine."_

_Sakura skimmed the paper, "Placeholder?"_

_" Yeah…when someone is trying to avoid a subject they use words like "thing" or "stuff". For example, if your parents ask how you school, a placeholder would be, "I did some stuff." You avoid the subject by say a very vague word._

_"Oh," was all Sakura could say._

_"Placeholder," Kakashi said and she could see his mask crease into a smile. He turned to the rest of the group, "Ok, why don't we begin. I believe we left off with Truth."_

_"Yeah, we did," She said and everyone turned their attention to her, "Ok so yeah, I was driving on Route 45 when suddenly this asshole who drives a freakin' Hummer and obviously has no vision at all suddenly merges into my lane without signaling. He knew it was going to be a tight squeeze and he did it anyway, almost causing me to crash into him in the process. Now it's bad enough to piss off a person with road rage, but to piss of a naturist by driving a Hummer…well…that is just pretty much suicide. _

_So for the next five minutes I covered every way to make that sucker go down and I was about to go through with it, but then I remember what I learned at last week's session. _

_Breath._

_So I took out the CD you gave us Kakashi. The one with the sounds of the ocean, and I took deep breaths in and out. After I finally calmed down, and let me take this moment to say it really helped, I sped up and rammed into the back of his pathetic excuse for a car. It was amazing. My car is tiny so I literally went underneath his car, but the force caused his car to flip over, and catch on flame. He survived, but his expression was priceless."_

_"BAM BAM BAM," she said jumping out of her chair._

_Everyone stared at her; unsure if whether is was an improvement or a setback for her. The way she had told the story made it seem as if ramming into cars was part of everyday life. Truth simply smiled back, unaware of the eerie silence and bulging eyes that accompanied her story. _

_"Well…that is certainly an improvement…at least you remembered what I told you this time." Kakashi said signaling everyone to clap for her, "I think next time though you should think of what you learn three weeks ago also. Forgiveness. Instead of ramming into his sorry ass, maybe you could do something else."_

_"I could...draw a picture of ramming into his sorry ass."_

_"…Yes…You should do that next time."_

--

"I'm sorry Sakura, but we ran out of noodles. I just sent Ayame out to buy some and…please don't hurt me like you did last time." Teuchi cowered, fearing she would go on a crazy rampage and literally uproot the Ichiraku; flipping it over in the process.

Sakura sighed and laid her bowl on the table, placing her chopsticks on top, "No, its ok. I'm sorry I went on an eating binge again. You know how I get when I'm emotional. I think I'll stop eating now."

She patted her stomach and looked at her watch.

_Ugh, I have group in twenty minutes._

"You know what, since you and Naruto are my best customers, it's on the house…but only this time," Teuchi nervously picked up her bowl and carried it to the kitchen after saying goodbye to the pair. He silently thanked the god for letting his ramen house survive this time.

Sakura turned to Naruto. He had been awfully quiet today. "Naruto, do you want to take a walk? I feel like a fat cow and I want to burn some calories."

Naruto smirked, "Who wouldn't want to take a walk with someone as beautiful as you? It would be my honor." He playfully bowed in front of her, extending his hand. Sakura giggled at his gesture and returned it by placing her hand looping her arm around his arm.

They walked down the path and soon reached a familiar trail. There were rows of cherry blossoms on each side, and the sun seeping through the little cracks between the branches leaving the shadows of the trees.

"Did you know that this is where I first met you?" Naruto quietly said.

"Hm…Really? I don't remember…"

Naruto let a loud laugh cover up his embarrassment," Of course you wouldn't. I was the only one who saw you. You were sitting right here on this rock, your eyes turned toward the sky. You must have been thinking about something important because you were there for a while."

"Oh? And how do you know this...were you stalking me?" Sakura lifted one eyebrow in amusement. Naruto however didn't laugh. Finding this weird, Sakura looked up at him and found that he had stopped walking and was staring at her with a serious expression on his face.

"Naruto…why did you bring me here?" she looked at him questioningly, "If it is to reminisce about the past…you promised-

"No, it's not about that. It's just that…there is something important I wanted to tell you…and since you are my best friend… I wanted you to know first." The way his feet began to fidget, Sakura could tell he was having a hard time saying what was on his mind. It was always something he had done when he was nervous.

Sakura looked at her friend. It still freaked her out how mature Naruto was becoming. Years ago, he would have been able to say whatever is on his mind with no care in the world. He was a tiny goofball with big dreams and innocent eyes. Now he was still the goofball she knew but years of experience and heartbreak had replaced innocent eyes with a person she felt she didn't know, no matter how my lunches they spent together.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a tiny blue box, and slowly opened it revealing a beautiful diamond the size of a quarter, "Do you like it? I spent all my money that I earned on missions to buy it."

"W-Well…ummm…yea…but Naruto-

"I'm going to ask Hinata to marry me," he interrupted her, "Three days from now. At this spot."

Sakura was flustered. She found the air harder to breathe, and her knees were beginning to give out.

_What am I supposed to say to that? She thought angrily._

"Well umm… congratulations; I hope it goes well." Sakura looked at her watch again, "You know what, I had better get going or I am going to be late, and they do the meanest thing to you when you're late. It's this prank they pull where they-

Naruto took a step closer and put a finger on her lips to shush her. Their bodies were now touching and Sakura could feel his hot breath touch her neck. Wrapping his arms around her tiny waist, he pulled her into a hug, resting his head on her shoulder. Out of reflex, Sakura also wrapped her arms around her neck, pulling him a little closer.

_I had forgotten how nice it had once been._

"I'm going to miss you, Sakura-chan."

"Stupid…I'm not going anywhere."

"I didn't mean it that way."

Sakura let him hug her for a while, but when she finally realized that they were in the middle of the road she slowly started to push him away. Anyone could pass by, and if they were seen it would be on the front page of the gossip column in seconds.

"Naruto…I really have to go now."

His voice sounded shaky as if he were about to cry, "Ple-

He cleared his throat and tried again, "Please…five more minutes. That is all I want and then I will go."

--

"I'm sorry I'm late Kak- I mean Pacman. I was caught up in the hospital," Sakura entered the building gasping for breath. Her face was red from running so fast. Everyone was already sitting down and looked at her as she burst through the door an hour late.

The truth was Sakura chose to be late. After her meeting with Naruto, she was left with tears running down her cheeks and falling into the ground. She didn't care how late she was as long as they didn't see her eyes puffy and nose running.

"Hospital or not, I expect you to be here on time," Kakashi said waving her to her seat. He waited till she was settled before beginning again, "Now as I was saying, since we finally have an even amount of people we can finally get buddies."

"Buddies?" Truth asked.

"Yeah, you know, a specific person you can call to give you support when you really feel like punching someone's face in. This person will be there for you when you need it the most, and I expect you to meet outside of this session. It will be part of your homework; spend at least two hours with your buddy. Get to know each other."

"Pacman that is truly unfair. I have model for eighteen hours a day, I go to these stupid group sessions-

"I-Lang. Big time," Question said.

Sakura looked up I-Lang on her paper. It meant Inflammatory Language, and it was used when someone said something that would entice someone to get mad.

"Fine. I go to these GREAT group sessions and you're telling me to squeeze in two hours of buddy time."

"Yup"

Mizzy gave him a dirty look, "I swear… you are trying to kill me."

"Oh cry us a river," Truth said.

"What did you just say?" Mizzy got up off of her chair. Truth just gave her a shrug and Mizzy was clearly getting more upset, "I cut up that girls face, and don't think I wouldn't do the same to you because you're cute."

"Ok calm down everyone," Kakashi helped Mizzy sit back down, "If you really don't have the time, I understand, but I hope you will at least try to make sometime or at least call each other if you feel angry."

Kakashi pulled out a black hat, "Now inside this hat there are different colors. I want each of you to pick a color, and whoever has matching colors will be buddies." The hat was passed to Truth, and she stuck her hand inside.

"Blue," she said showing everyone her paper.

"Yellow," Mizzy said.

"Yellow," Question said, giving a glare to Mizzy.

"Red," Sakura said.

"Blue," Nano said.

The hat was now passed back to Kakashi, "Now everyone stand next to your partner and I'll give you a few minutes to talk and exchange numbers." Everyone got up and met with their partners, and soon chatter filled the air.

Sakura stood in the middle of the circle awkwardly. There was no one with a red paper. She walked up to Kakashi and tapped him in the shoulder, "Pacman… who is my partner?"

Kakashi turned to the empty chair, "Ah, finally you arrive, and perfect timing."

Sakura turned around to see who he had been talking to. She was excited to see who the mystery person, but saw nothing but an empty chair. She turned to Kakashi who told her to look again, and soon she could see grains of sand beginning to come out of nowhere and form a human shape.

"Lola, meet your group buddy…Sandman."

"G-G-Gaara?"

**TBC…**

**Thanks: Gaara's desert blossom**

**Rynnsloveless**

**P. Naykunoichi**

**Piratexninja (and for the whole goos-fra-bah idea)**

**Estrela jem**

**Clearheart**

**IamNOTafangirl3221**

**FOR REVIEWING.**


	3. Rising Action

**Anger Management Equals Love**

**By **

**Green Hot Jalapeno Peppers**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Disclaimer 2**: I do not own the Anger Management terms used. I used a reference from the book Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

**Summary: **After accidentally sending someone into a coma, Tsunade sends her to anger management. Sakura begins to learn more about her, not to mention falling in love with a certain red hair boy.

**Note: Italics are either thought or flashback. I'm sure you can figure it out.**

**Chapter 3: Oh fate…I curse you.**

Sakura took a look around the room. Everyone was laughing loudly and having so much fun spending time with their partners. Even Truth had managed to make the ever so silent Nano start a heated conversation on what he thought was the best computer out on the market. Her eyes finally reached the person sitting right across from her. Gaara.

He was sitting with a perfect posture on the chair facing her. Arms folded and feet planted firmly on the ground.

She felt a shiver travel down her spine as she found he was still blankly staring at her ever since he was assigned as her partner. He didn't say anything, he didn't do anything. He just stared.

She looked around the room again, this time focusing on the clock and counting ever tick and tock it made; anything to take her mind off of the awkward silence. Normally she wasn't the type to be quiet and shy; it was second nature for her to be able to converse with complete strangers easily.

The initial shock of her situation was gradually beginning to wear off, but as much as she hated to say it she was really scared of just sitting in the same room as him. He may have changed for the better and became the Kazekage, but it was really hard for her to forget the day he had almost gone homicidal for blood and tried to kill her. Her whole body was tense, as if expecting him to suddenly go crazy any second.

_Oh god Kakashi, why did you have to leave me with this pile of sand. I might as well talk to a pile of sand; I could probably have a better conversation with it than with him._

Sakura uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them. It was a habit she had picked up from Tsunade when she was nervous. She glanced over at the Kazekage again. Same blank expression. Same annoyed features. Still just…staring.

"Ok, that is enough for today. I hope you all learned something from your partners and I hope you visit each at least spend some time with each other tomorrow if you can." Sakura could hear Kakashi say.

Sakura stood up as fast as she could and said a good-bye to Gaara with as little eye contact as possible. She turned her body to leave when she felt something tug at her hand. Gaara had grabbed her hand (rather tightly) and when she tried to pull away he just held on a little tighter.

"Wha- Hey! What are you doing? Let me go!" Sakura said tugging her arm again. He still didn't let go, but continued staring at her. She looked at her hand and noticed the paper cut she had gotten earlier this morning on her index finger, and panicked for a second.

_Oh, geez. He saw the blood. He must have somehow tasted my blood back when we last fought each other. He probably loved the taste of it so much he has come back for the rest of me. To eat the rest of me. _

_Ok, calm down._

_This is not Peter Pan. You are not Captain Hook and Garra is not an alligator._

"I swear if you don't let me go…" She began threatening him. Kazekage or not, she wasn't afraid to attack him if he had decided to have another psychotic episode. Her fear was slowly turning into anger as she watched him slowly pull her towards him. She desperately pulled away from him, but soon found herself a few inches from his face. Now Sakura probably would have thought of this as some sort of romantic moment if she wasn't staring into the depths of hell.

Sakura looked up to his face, looking for signs that would tell her of his intent to kill but instead she found him staring at her with painful eyes.

Green…Just like hers.

Pain…just like hers.

She saw him open his mouth as if he was trying to say something, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth and his eyes shifted uncomfortably. He composed himself and decided to try again, sucking in a big mass of air, "I-I-

Instead they were interrupted by Kakashi, "Is there a problem here?" He had noticed Sakura's struggle with Gaara, but had decided to see if they could work whatever was going on between them out. Apparently not. After seeing how uncomfortable she was with their close contact, he decided to step in.

Gaara looked at Kakashi in annoyance before finally letting go. Sakura watched as he turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

"Well, that was certainly…interesting. Are you ok Lola?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," she turned to him with a pleading look, "please not him. Let me change partners with someone. I don't want him."

"I'm sorry Sakura…but I actually think it would be a better idea if you stay with him. I believe you two could learn something from each other"

"What could I possibly learn from a psychotic killer. How to kill someone with a glare?" she whispered under her breath.

"Hm," Kakashi mused, "I don't think you need to be taught that."

Her green eyes narrowed, and she sent him a bone chilling glare, "And what do you mean by that?"

"Well, just think about it. You two are like north and south when it comes to expression. When you are angry the first thing you do is throw the closest thing you can pick up and if there is nothing you aren't afraid of picking someone up and throwing them across the room. You are hot headed and tend to wear your emotions on your sleeve. When you're sad you cry, when you're happy you smile. Gaara on the other hand conceals his emotions. You may think that is a good thing because he is a ninja, but it can have many serious repercussions. All that bottled up emotion is bound to burst one day. All it takes is one bad day. One stupid person. One mistake and Gaara could destroy everything in his path."

"I can't believe you are comparing me to that freak."

"You are more alike than you realize. You two have different ways of showing emotion, but you both tend to take it to the extreme."

"You know what?"

Kakashi knew it was a rhetorical question, but decided to respond it, "What?"

"You're a butt-head"

Kakashi chuckled, "I set myself up for that didn't I."

"Yup" she grinned to herself.

--

"All you have to do is go to the Iciraku at lunch time, and then you can tell her."

"…"

"Don't worry. She isn't the type to hold grudges."

"…"

"She won't get mad seeing you instead of me. She is probably tired of seeing my ugly face everyday. I think she would be happy to see someone different."

"…"

"That was a long time ago. You are different now. You're not the same cold blooded psycho killer you used to be."

"…"

"Yeah I know she is in anger management, but that doesn't mean anything."

"…"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"…"

" That story is a rumor. When people say cheeks, they are usually referring to the ones on your face. Sakura-chan would never do something like that. Besides you have the sand to protect you."

"…"

"Fine. I'll come with you, but I can only stay for five seconds."

"…"

"I-I have stuff to do. I just…can't stay."

"…"

"Fine. I'll stay."

--

Sakura sat at the Ichiraku waiting for Naruto to arrive. She was not a patient person. It was a trait she always had but when Sasuke left Konoha it became worse. Sasuke was her past, a past she desperately tried to forget by living in the future. That thought process slowly consumed her, and she now lived as Naruto would say "with the flow." Whenever there was something to get done she would do it. In. Out. Leave. Waiting for people, or just chilling was something she hated to do and would fix it by pulling out a medical book.

She angrily looked at her watch for the tenth time in two minutes and could have sworn the size of veins popping out of her head would have made Neji jealous. "It's 12:45 for god's sake. I swear to god if that idiot doesn't arrive in two minutes he is going to be breathing out of his ass tonight" Sakura scowled at the ramen chef who internally cursed Naruto for his tardiness.

Tapping her fingers on the hard wood, Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny medical book. She was in the middle of a sentence when she heard a loud boisterous voice call out to her.

"SAKUUUURAAAAA-CHAAAAAN!" Naruto had his hand in the air and was waving it frantically. He looked at Sakura and noticed she had pulled out her medical book and already had her nose in it.

_This is going to get ugly. She already has her book out, and she is even pulling out her "I don't ever want to fucking talk to you ever again and if you are even thinking about talking to me I will pretend you don't exist" act._

_Ok._

_Right now Sakura is a ticking time bomb. Any wrong move and I will be in the hospital for weeks._

_Tread waters carefully._

"SAKUUUUURRRAAAAAA-CHAAAAAAN!" he yelled into her ear.

Sakura was startled and almost dropped her book in surprise. Regaining composure, she continued reading, blatantly ignoring her very tardy friend. She turned her head away from Naruto so that she was facing a direction away from him, and turned the page of her book.

Naruto sighed, "Aw, Sakura-chan…I know that you're mad at me because I was late but I have a REALLY REALLY good reason. Please hear me out."

"How 'bout ….NO!"

"PLEAASE! PLEASE! PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!" Naruto continued yelling into her ear.

Sakura closed her book and slammed it on the table hard, "What did you say? I couldn't hear you over the RINGING IN MY EARS!" She tucked the strands of hair that was in her face behind her ears and took deep breaths, "I will give you five seconds to explain yourself…and it better be good," she added darkly.

"H-huh?"

"5," she said calmly.

"O-Oh! Well you see I was on my way to the Iciraku; merrily skipping and whistling a tune that had gotten stuck in my head. You know that song that talks about –

"4"

"A-and along the way I began thinking about how boring is sometimes is when it is just the two of us, and how much merrier it would be if there were more-

"3"

"Sakurrrrraaaaa- chaaaan, all this counting is making me nervous-

"2"

"S-so yeah I was thinking that and then guess who I met-

"Hinata is coming?" she added cheerfully, forgetting about her dark mood and countdown to doom. She loved Hinata. Something about her innocence that was as cute as a puppy dog, to her whole essence that screamed "I am so helpless" made Sakura just want to throw a blanket over her to shield her from the world. Sakura never had a younger sister, (much to her dismay) and literally jumped at the thought of being Hinata's big sister even though Hinata was older than her. It was Sakura who had goaded Hinata to ask Naruto out, and it was Hinata who comforted her when her parents died. Sakura was never angry when Hinata was around.

"Well…no."

Sakura gave him a dirty look, "Then who could it possibly be. Who's prescence is so awesome, no, so awe-inspiring that you couldn't make it in time to meet your best friend since forever for a simple lunch for an hour."

"Me," a voice behind her deeply said.

Sakura's eyes widened. She knew who it was, but refused to turn around. Turning around meant she would find out she was right about who is was, and she really badly didn't want to be right.

"Eh he he he, Sakura-chan. I ran into Gaara, and I told him to come enjoy a meal with us."

Sakura fell off of her chair the name and cursed loudly, hitting the floor with her fists. Oh how fate was cruel. After their happy little session at anger management she planned on avoiding him for the rest of the week. Forever if she could.

Naruto was surprised at her reaction. He knew that she didn't like Gaara but didn't know it was that bad, "Woah are you alright?" He extended an arm out to her.

"I'm FINE," Sakura said taking his hand and lifting herself up. She brushed the dirt off of her clothes and sent look of annoyance at Naruto, "hey Naruto, can I talk to you…over there." She pointed at a tall oak tree, not waiting for him to respond before grabbing him by the collar and dragging him away.

"You are such an idiot. Why would you invite HIM along," she whispered poking him in the shoulder and looking over at their guest to see if he heard. Naruto slightly winced in pain. When Sakura was mad, she tended to forget how powerful she could get.

"I'm just being friendly Sakura-chan. I don't know why you are getting upset," He replied innocently.

Sakura folded her arms over her chest and felt so mad she could have blown smoke out of her nose, "Like hell you are. You know Naruto, you are much more devious than you let on. Don't think I've spent all my years hanging out with you not to know a little bit about your personality. I know you know he is my anger management partner."

Naruto sighed. He had been caught, and he should have known Sakura was smarter enough to see through a lie. Especially one from him. _Ok, I have two choices. Cry and beg for mercy, or feign innocence and lie. _Telling the truth really wasn't really in his options unless he wanted to die.

It really was a lose: lose situation for him. _Tell Sakura the truth and not only would she kill him conversing with the enemy, but Gaara would probably have some hand in his murder for telling her why he came along. Lie and Sakura would probably find out (which she usually does) and torture him until the truth comes out along with all the repercussions of telling the truth. _

_Why do my friends all have to be powerful ninjas with access to sharp pointy objects and anger management problems?_ Naruto sulked silently and looked at an impatient Sakura who was waiting for a reply.

_Feign Innocence and lie._

"There is no trick. No joke or scam. Just conversation and ramen. Seriously Sakura…what's the worst that could-

"Don't you even think of finishing that sentence," Sakura interrupted and looked the optimistic boy skeptically. Every time he said that phrase of his, it seemed as if every possible thing would go wrong. Sakura wasn't the type to be superstitious but whenever he said that some of the most unlikely things would happen, "Remember the last time you said that. A fertilizer truck exploded and all the contents landed on you."

Naruto shivered as he recalled how many bath's he had to take to get rid of the stench, "Yeah, and every once in I still get people saying "What is that smell?" he added sadly.

"Naruto…I don't think it is because of the fertilizer anymore." They looked at each other seriously. Sakura smirked and before they knew it they were a couple of laughing hyenas.

Sakura was clutching her stomach laughing and Naruto had his hand on Sakura's shoulder to keep himself from falling over; both with tears in their eyes from so much laughter. There was nothing better to cure anger than laughter.

"Fine," Sakura said with a childlike pout on her face, "but you seriously owe me. Big time."

Grabbing Sakura's arm, Naruto happily lead Sakura back to the Ichiraku and sat with a grumpy Sakura to his left and an expressionless Gaara at his right. He silently prayed that everything would go smoothly.

"Now Sakura," He whispered to her, "Be on your best behavior and I'll treat you with ice-cream tomorrow." Naruto knew Sakura hated being treated like a little girl, but sometimes she had a tendency to act just like 5 year old spoiled brat. Sakura just grunted back, and mumbled a few words under her breath. Words unfit for a five year old.

"Three spicy chicken bowls," he yelled at Teuchi in the kitchen and turned to his friends and smugly said, "my treat."

"Oh, since when did you get the money to treat people out? You big spender, you." Sakura sarcastically said, playfully messing with his hair.

Naruto blushed, "Well you know I went on this one mission where I had a run in with a-

"I don't like spicy food," Gaara said blandly, cutting into Naruto's story, "and I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh sorry about that," Naruto laughed awkwardly. He decided to tell the story another time, "I forgot." Naruto picked up a menu and skimmed it, "How about a vegetarian bowl? It's noodles and vegetables."

"I don't eat carbs," he replied.

"Well…"

Sakura watched the conversation between Naruto and Gaara and was well…irked. There was something about the way he treated Naruto the just peeved her. _HE DOESN'T EAT CARBS? WHAT IS HE…A GIRL? This guy is acting like a total asshole! _

"Well I'm sorry we don't serve caviar and snails here your majesty. Do you want me to go to France and buy some? How 'bout I roll out a red carpet while I'm at it?" She snapped at him. There was something about him that just always set her off. Maybe his hair, maybe his eyes, maybe his personality…she just didn't know.

Naruto turned to Sakura with pleading eyes, "Sakura-chan…please."

"You know what Naruto, I am sorry. I thought I could take it, but I can't," she slid off her chair, "I don't know why are defending this asshole, and insisting that I be nice to him-

"It's only been a few minutes…please…just stay a little longer. Gaara has something to say to you."

Naruto immediately regretted saying that because as soon as those words left his mouth he could have sworn Sakura's eyes were lit on fire. His hands covered his mouth and Sakura was shaking with anger at this point, "I KNEW YOU WERE PLANNING SOMETHING YOU TWERP! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FELL FOR YOUR LIES AGAIN! I FEEL LIKE SUCH AN IDIOT! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LIED TO ME, YOU KNOW HOW MUCH A HATE IT WHEN YOU LIE TO ME!"

Having so much anger with no outlet Sakura kicked the ground in frustration. Naruto knew that she was going into temper tantrum mode, and knew that there was nothing he could now say to calm her down. Usually when this happened he could just wait until she would come back to him, happy and calm. Then he would say sorry and she would forgive him.

"I'M GOING!" she picked up her bag and accidentally locked eyes with Gaara. He was staring at her with those green eyes. Just staring. Probably judging her or analyzing all her flaws, "AND YOU! I HATE YOU! CAN YOU STOP FUCKING STARING AT ME?"

Gaara didn't say anything, and Sakura hated his eyes. She ran up to him to do something about his staring problem; maybe rip his eyes out, but Naruto grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back, "I'm sorry Sakura. I forgot. I forgot. I made you remember again. I'm sorry."

Sakura could feel her face heat up and she struggled against Naruto to attack Gaara. Naruto kept a firm grip, but all her wiggling and moving was making him loose grip of her.

She hated his eyes. That is what she hated about him, what always set her off when he was around her.

_Still Staring._

_Just Staring._

_She hated those eyes._

_They judged her. _

_Analyzed her._

_Just like him._

"Sakura, stop it! Snap out of it!" Naruto lost grip of her and she fell on the ground. Sakura looked at the ground in shame. Tears were in her eyes, and there were already running down her cheeks, hitting the floor. She looked up at Naruto and Gaara. Both with concerned looks on their face.

_I'm pathetic._

She got up and sprinted away. She could hear the voices of Naruto calling out to her to come back, but the pain in her chest was too much. She really didn't want to see anyone right now.

Naruto called out to Sakura, but knew it was better if she could have some time along to clear her head. He turned to Gaara who continued looking at the spot where Sakura had fallen.

"Sakura-chan really isnt like this all the time. She is really a nice person, but ever since that day," Naruto choked, he couldn't go on, "It's my fault she is that way."

"I didn't mean to annoy her. I'm nervous. I'm not used to saying stuff like this. I'm just trying to get used to being human," Gaara said.

"I know. No one said it was going to be easy."

**TBC…**

**--**

**AN: It was so hard writing this chapter, and to tell you the truth if it wasn't for the last three reviews I got I would have stopped writing it all together. **

**There are so many secrets and I am kind of trying to hint at them without giving it away, so if you are majorly confused all will be explained in due time.**

**NExt chapter will be really fluffy. :Hehe:**

**Thanks everyone for the reviews.**

**Hope this chapter is up to your expectations!**


	4. Forgiven

**Anger Management Equals Love**

**By **

**Green Hot Jalapeno Peppers**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Disclaimer 2**: I do not own the Anger Management terms used. I used a reference from the book Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

**Summary: **After accidentally sending someone into a coma, Tsunade sends her to anger management. Sakura begins to learn more about her, not to mention falling in love with a certain red hair boy.

**Note: Italics are either thought or flashback. I'm sure you can figure it out.**

_Just hear me out_

_I'm not over you yet._

_-"Hear me out" Frou Frou_

**Chapter 4: Forgiven**

Gaara and Naruto had been standing in front of the Ichiraku for half an hour trying to figure out what they should do. They were master tacticians, one Kazakage and one elite ANBU with loads of experience on how to take down armies and assassinate targets from five hundred yards... but when it came to girl's feelings.

They.

Were.

Clueless.

"This is ridiculous. I can't believe you don't know what to do," Gaara said exasperated, "You are the one who has been her best friend since god knows when. Not to mention you have a fiancée. You of all people should be an expert on how to defuse this woman."

Naruto's frown only deepened at this comment. It was true. He did know every trick and every way to sweet-talk her into a better mood, but he knew her anger wasn't truly because of him. He turned to look at Gaara.

"I think you should go and talk to her."

Gaara calmly turned to look at Naruto, "Me?" He had meant to say it in a low monotonous tone, but instead it came out all squeaky. He cleared his throat and started again, "Me?" He really didn't want to go and talk to her. Not just because she was a ticking time bomb, but because of what she had said to him.

Gaara massaged his forehead. A habit he picked up ever since he met Sakura at the group session. He never knew he could get this stress coming to Konoha. He thought he was going to have a calm and relaxing time, free from his duties back at Suna, but the minute he saw a certain pink haired girl standing in the middle of a circle of chairs, he knew he would have to restock on his Advil. Something about that girl just screamed, "I am going to give you massive migraines for the rest of your life!"

"Why did I ever listen to you when we met a few years back? What did you tell me? That I should commit my life to repenting for any of wrong doings I did if I ever want to start a new life." Gaara said to Naruto.

Naruto could only let a wide grin spread across his face as he remembered that day, "Hey I didn't force you to promise to repent for your sins. You totally said that on your own."

Gaara grunted, "I was caught up in the moment. Sue me."

"What I'm saying is, I think you should go talk to her. YOU were the one who made her go into psycho mode, and YOU actually know what it is like to be in psycho mode so you can probably relate to her. Besides, it would be the perfect time to tell her what's on her mind."

"I changed my mind. I don't want to tell her anymore. I'm going home." Gaara turned to walk away, but Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him towards Sakura's general direction.

"Aw c'mon," he laughed, "I swear she doesn't bite ("often" he thought). I can't believe it is so hard to tell her, and you had no problem telling me or even Tsunade. Be brave…be strong. Repeat after me "I am a strong and powerful Kazekage."

"Naruto…be serious," he said disbelieving of what Naruto was telling him to do.

"I am serious! Now repeat it!"

"No." Gaara said. He wasn't going to let Naruto degrade him like this (even though he really wasn't).

"Say it or I tell Sakura that you said she has a big forehead...she seriously rip your "stuff" off. I swear. I saw it happen once. She goes into this total inner Sakura mode and it is not pretty at all…Now say it."

"I am a strong and powerful Kazekage," he whispered inaudibly.

"What? I couldn't hear that," Naruto taunted.

"I am a strong and powerful Kazekage," he whispered again.

"Sorry, are you talking to me? I thought you were talking to the ground."

"I AM A STRONG AND POWERFUL KAZEKAGE GOD DAMMIT!" Gaara shouted, face red and steam blowing off of his head. The anger emanating from his body was enough to kill the nearby plants, and animals.

Naruto watched as a squirrel fell from a tree, and landed dead on the ground."So now that you are riled up…are you ready to go talk to her?"

Gaara thought for a moment. It really was a tough decision. Death by embarrassment or death by psycho crazy chick.

"…Fine, I'll go."

_Death by psycho crazy chick it is,_ he thought grimly.

Naruto gave Gaara a friendly slap on the back, "I knew you would come to your senses…now be on your way brave knight!" he said pointing to Sakura's direction.

Naruto could only watch as Gaara grudgingly walked away towards Sakura. His arms folded over his chest, and cold emotional eyes silently scanning the surroundings, using Sakura's path of destruction to lead him to her. Naruto waited until he was out of viewing range until letting out a big sigh. The kind of hopeless sigh that comes from every inch of your body

"Fuck," he said kicking the floor, letting the dust surround him.

--

_"Don't...Please don't do this to me. You're breaking my heart," she said, her back was towards Naruto. "You love her. I swear to god, you love her. You don't love me anymore. You love her. Please love her. Make her happy."_

_His cold eyes stared at the ground, walking towards her, "Look at me," he said grabbing her shoulders. He turned her around and cupped his hand under her chin, wiping a tear off of her cheek before gently pushing her face up to meet his, "Tell me you want this. Tell me and I will do it._

_I love you_

_I love you_

_I love you_

_Goddammit, how many times do I have to tell you?" He didn't know how long he had been crying, but he didn't make any attempt to wipe the tears off. He let them slide off of his cheek onto the dry floor, leaving a small stain on the floor. _

_"If you love me why are you doing this to me? We can't change the past. We can't change the past anymore. I thought we could. I really thought we could, but it just…" she swallowed hard, "…won't ever happen. It's too hard for me."_

_"What do I have to do? What can I do to make you love me?"_

_"Love her. Forget about me. Let me go."_

_"Sakura…please. Don't ask me to do this. I can't. I can't lie about my love for you. It will only hurt all of us in the end. We can work through it. I know we can. Just don't give up. Don't loose hope. I can see it draining from your eyes," he used his thumb to wipe another tear that had made its way down her chin._

_"Please…do this for me." Her legs were weak and the only thing keeping her up was Naruto's tightening grip on her shoulders. She winced in pain as Naruto's fingernail dug through her clothing onto her skin. "Naruto, you're hurting me."_

_Surprised as his lack of control, Naruto let of her, and she fell onto the ground. She made no attempt to get up. There was no point; she would just fall back down. Her legs were too shaky to run. Her heart was breaking and there was no where to go. No where to run to hide from it all. Even if it would only be temporary. _

_"I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe this is happening," he was pacing back and forth. His hands in his hair, he gripped as much hair as he could, and began pulling. The pain, it reminded him that it all was true. Sakura didn't love him. He had failed her, and made her cry. He was the reason she was unhappy. He wouldn't be the one to make her smile. He would never get that one smile from her, the one that came from the bottom of her heart. The one that she gave to Sasuke. _

_He stopped walking, and looked down at Sakura. He squatted down next to her, and pulled her into a kiss. It wasn't the slow and gentle one that she used to get, but hungry and needy. Forced and hard. _

_Sakura desperately wanted to kiss him back; to hug him and tell him that everything could go back to normal, but she didn't want to lie to him. Everything was different. Everything was changing. _

_She pulled away from him, and slapped him hard in the face. Naruto didn't even try to dodge it. He watched as her hand went all the way behind her head, and as it painfully made contact with his skin. _

_He looked down. Ashamed. "You never were the type to forgive, were you?"_

_"No."_

_"Did you really forgive me when I told you I was sorry for what I did?"_

_"No."_

_"I'm..." he choked a sob. He laid his head on her lap and buried his face in her dress. Sakura didn't mind the fact her dress was getting wet. In fact it was the last thing on her mind. She was loosing him, and it hurt. He was remainder of Team Seven, and she was going to loose him too. She softly smoothed his hair back, running her fingers through his hair as he cried. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."_

_"I know" she whispered into his ear as she cradled him in her lap. _

_--_

Gaara found Sakura sitting on a stone bench with her legs folded up to her chest. Her head resting on her knees and with her eyes closed she let out a sigh. It wasn't until she felt the warmth of another presence decide to take a seat next to her did she slowly open her jade eyes. She focused on the person next to her; sitting silently with his head turned away from her as if he thought if he couldn't see her wasn't there.

_"He's so much like Sasuke it is scary."_ She thought bitterly.

Sakura's anger had slowly gone down in the time she had to think. Whenever she and Naruto would get into a fight she would always find herself sitting on the stone bench, where every life changing thing in her life happened. It was where team seven would always hang out, where Sasuke had rejected her and left her when he went to follow Orochimaru, and where she would always go to cry.

She looked at one of the arms on the bench, and traced a heart carved into the stone with her finger.

N+S+S

Those were the three letters carved into the heart. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Sakura smirked as she recalled how she used a kunai to carve those letters into the stone back when she was a young chunnin. There really only two letters she carved into the stone, S+S, but a few years later when she was already under the tutelage of Tsunade she found a sloppy n carved off to the side. She could only smile at her blond haired friend's attempt to be part of her heart.

No matter how upset she was, those three letters would always defuse her. It always brought her back to when Team 7 was still doing mediocre mission, and Naruto was still boasting everywhere he was going to be Hokage while Sasuke would mock him.

She turned to Gaara, and in a peace offering she decided to strike up some conversation with him, "Um…nice weather we are having today." She said rather dumbly.

"Hm." Gaara replied. He mentally kicked himself when he saw Sakura's face twist into a sour lemon before finally plastering a smile on her face again. She was obviously trying her best to stop herself from blowing her top off again. He was trying though. It was so hard, but he was trying. It was just that he would open his mouth to say something meaningful, something thoughtful, something that was on his mind, but all that would come out was "hm".

"You are a strong and powerful Kazekage. You can do this" he repeated over and over in his head like a mantra.

Sakura was looking around, thinking Gaara obviously didn't want to talk to her so why bother she thought.

"Yeah…" she said absentmindedly to get some noise to break the akward silence. It seemed as if this boy was the king of awkward silence. Every time she was around him…it was awkward.

Thirty minutes had passed, and the two of them hadn't spoken a word to each other. Sakura glanced at Gaara. _I wonder why he is here. Naruto said he had to tell me something. What could it possibly be? "I want to murder you? I wish I killed you when I had the chance?" He looks so serious…and mad. He must be deep in thought about something important._

Gaara was mad. Although not mad as in the way Sakura thought. _Ok…Just tell her…now. _Gaara opens he mouth to speak._ Wait, Wait, Never mind. _ He closes he mouth.

_Ok….now_! He takes in a deep breath. _Ugh, forget it. _He loudly exhales and furrows his eyebrows. He sighs internally. _This is definitely going to take a lot of willpower._

Sakura was staring at a large fluffy cloud that was forming the shape of a turtle. Two hours had already passed, and enough was enough. Sakura weighed her options and she would rather swallow her pride and apologize for something she must have done wrong to upset him .

"About earlier," she stared, "I'm not usually like that. I mean, I kind of am but.

_Tell her now._

What I meant to say is that I think we should start off with a new clean slate. I really shouldn't have been so rude to you the first time we met.

_Be a man. Tell her! Now or never…_

Or the second time either. I don't really hate you, and whatever I said…it wasn't true. So I would like to say that I'm- That I'm- That I'm-

"Sorry." They both said in unison.

At that precise moment there were only two things Sakura wished she had. The first thing was Q-tip to clean her ears out and make sure she it wasn't the earwax talking to her. The second thing was a tape recorder to rewind and replay. She definitely didn't believe what she just heard.

Gaara. Apologizing.

Gaara, the king of ice. The boy who didn't care about anything but himself. Apologizing. She couldn't even believe she was using those two words in the same sentence.

Everything was beginning to click. The staring. The awkward silences. Him stalking her. Those cold eyes. It wasn't anger or hate. It was pain. She had totally misinterpreted everything. The whole time she though he was out to kill her when all he wanted was forgiveness. Sakura felt like slapping her face because of all her stupidity.

"W-what?" she stuttered. It was the only thing she could manage to say. The rest would have just come out as duh and umms.

"I- I'm Sorry," he repeated, his voice still a little shaky,"…A-about before. During the chunnin exam. I didn't mean to. I wasn't thinking."

"_I'm sorry."_

"I know," she smiled and gently wrapped her arms around his neck, "I know."

--

The more she got to know Gaara the more she found out there were many things Sakura found that she could like about Gaara. For one, whenever she would tell him "Meet me at 1:00 and don't even think about being late." He would be there at one. Not late. In fact, he would arrive there at 12: 55 just to please her. He wasn't like the bumbling Naruto who was beginning to act more and more like Kakashi. Always getting lost on the road to life, always stopping to sniff the flowers, and always arriving thirty minutes late no matter how many times Sakura would threaten him.

"So tell me," Sakura said gracefully taking a sip from her green tea. It was weird how such a peaceful setting always made Sakura feel all elegant and calm, "how do you like Konoha so far?"

"Good." Gaara gave her an awkward look. After seeing Sakura in an angry psychotic state, it was weird to finally see her composed and at peace. It was close to eerie.

"Ah…good," Sakura smiled. They had made so much progress…and she didn't mean it in a sarcastic way. It was hard to turn Gaara away from his usual replies. It took her a couple of days, and a lot of hours just sitting in silence, but she finally got him to say one word phrases. If she was lucky she got a small phrase…If she was lucky.

They sat together in silence, and this time it wasn't awkward in any way shape or form. She never knew why silence had scared her. Before she always felt silence had to be filled with noise; tapping or humming, something. Instead she learned to embrace it. Let the ringing in her ears play a beautiful song.

Sakura twiddled her thumbs. Ok so she wasn't as good at patience as she thought she could be, but she was improving. She scanned the room quickly and looked down at her green tea. Another reason why she loved hanging out with Gaara so much.

No Ramen. Whenever Naruto and she would go out to eat at fancy restaurants Naruto somehow managed to get them kicked out by demanding ramen or nauseating the other customers by his horrible table manners. Then she would yell at him as they were shooed out by the manager, and Sakura would soon find herself looking into a big bowl or ramen.

Gaara noticed Sakura was slowly getting bored. He was the one who had suggested going to this teahouse, and it was slowly eating him inside knowing he still couldn't hold up a conversation with her. "Where's Naruto?"

Sakura looked up, "Hmm? Oh, I went by his house to visit him and he told me that he was going to meet up with Hinata for lunch this time. They have a lot of wedding planning to get done."

"Ah."

"You know it is so weird to think Naruto is finally settling down. What is he- 23-

"24," Gaara corrected.

"Yeah, twenty-four. It is just weird going from Team Seven to marriage; especially since I know so many embarrassing stories about him; it's hard to ever see him in a serious light."

"Really..."Gaara sounded uninterested. Another story about Naruto.

"Yeah. There was this one time Naruto, Sasuke, and I were on a simple mission. It was really easy; return a vase to some man. We barely get out of the gates, and Naruto decides he wants to prove his manliness by catching some food before we set up camp. So we start walking and along the way we spot this squirrel. Naruto decides that we are having squirrel for dinner and runs off to chase it. He is gone for an hour, and I begin worrying where Naruto went. Sasuke tells me to go look for him while he sets up the camp. I had to search for him for a while and when I find him he is hiding behind a bush. I asked him if he caught out diner, and he throws me the squirrel. I pick it up and started to walk back, but Naruto wouldn't follow me. Curious I decided to check what was the matter with him, and guess what I found."

"…"

Sakura continued her story despite her unenthusiastic audience, "It was a kunai stuck up his butt."

"…"

"I know. He was so embarrassed he told me not to even ask him how it got there. I pitied the poor boy so I didn't tell Sasuke, but there are times when I would just ask him how his butt is." Sakura laughed as she barely got the rest of her story out. She clutched her stomach as she let out a few snorts. Whenever she laughed too much she would snort.

Eventually the snorts were less frequent and the laughs soon calmed down. Sakura composed herself and took another sip of her tea, "Ok, I have a question for you. It is kind of personal, and I know if you don't want to answer it you don't have too."

Gaara shifted in his seat; finally something other than stories about her days in Team Seven. This was definitely going to be interesting, he thought.

She looked at him seriously, and her face moved closer to him to whisper something. It was only meant to be heard by them, not by anyone else. Gaara moved a little closer to her to get a better

"Why is your hair red? Your hair is as red as blood."

Gaara slumped back in his chair. That woman. She was definitely something else. He looked at her face. Still totally serious. She definitely wasn't joking. The look on her face, he just couldn't resist. It was just too easy.

"Let's just say my hair used to be blonde, but I really like the look of BLOOD red."

She gave him a shocked look. Totally believing his story, and she slowly edged away from him. What a scandal! She was clearly getting uncomfortable around him and his homicidal tendencies.

He tried to keep a straight face for as long as he could, but slowly a smirk turned the corners of his mouth. Sakura noticed it and her face changed from a scandalous look to a small pout.

"Why you…" she giggled and playfully threw her napkin at him.

Another reason why she loved him.

**TBC…**

Yeah not much to say. Thank you everyone for the reviews. Sorry…not a fluffy as I thought it was going to be. I am going to save the good fluff for later.

FINALLY he let it out. Now it is going to focus on a Sakura-Gaara relationship. Hope you aren't too confused. I need to have some Naruto- Sakura, but I really didn't want to give away too many of the secrets. I wonder if you guys can figure out a little bit of what is going on. Hmm…so yeah… if you have any guesses…feel free to send me your guesses.

Any critiques or corrections are welcome. Just be nice about it.

**GHJP**


	5. Moving Forward

_Has Sakura found out yet?_

_"No. She is totally clueless to the situation."_

_"Good. And Gaara?"_

_"Same."_

_The Hokage let out a sigh as she slumped back into her chair, relieved that her prized student didn't figure out her plan, "Y'know, I really was expecting them to find out in at least a day. Oh boy, those two really are clueless, aren't they?"_

_"Well," Kakashi said pulling out the latest version of Icha Icha, "It must be because of my awesome ninja skills."_

"_You wish," Tsunade said laughing._

--

--

**Anger Management Equals Love**

**By **

**Green Hot Jalapeno Peppers**

**++Chapter 5: Moving Forward++**

--

--

Sakura and Gaara were both eating at a nearby sushi restaurant that had just opened up a few weeks ago. It was, of course Gaara's idea to eat there, and it was quickly seconded by an overly eager Sakura. She was glad her days of paying for her own food and eating ramen were over. Now she had a magic wallet that she could bend to her will and magically come up with money to pay for every demand she made. He was Kazekage after all.

Picking up her chopsticks, Sakura slowly leaned over the wooden table and pick a tuna sushi roll off of Gaara's plate. Their friendship had so far progressed to the point where it was alright to drink out of each others cup or pick food off of each others plates. Sakura, who was wearing one of the biggest grins her face could support, opened her mouth as wide as she could and popped the roll into her mouth, eating it with one bite. Healthy, Yummy, and Fishful. What more could a girl ask for.

With calm eyes, Gaara watched as his last piece of food was quickly eaten by a pink haired moocher. He would've complained, but the expression on her face was enough to give him second thoughts. He neatly placed his chopsticks on top of his plate and motioned to the waiter to pick up their dishes.

It was weird how things were turning out. Ever since Naruto had been busy with wedding plans, Sakura had been spending every bit of time she could with him, clinging onto him like some cute lost puppy that needed to be fed every hour, and needed constant attention or else she would bite. They had only known each other for a few days and already Gaara knew a lot of little tid bits about her like her her favorite color down to the exact shade (dark blue), what restaurant she wants to eat at before she dies, or famous celebrities she wants to kiss (not his favorite bit of information).

"Ugh," she said throwing her chopsticks onto her plate, "I really, really really don't want to go to anger management today. I want to stay here and eat sushi for the rest of my life."

"Fine," he said, "go ahead. Nobody's stopping you." Sakura sent a glare towards Gaara. She should've known by now that it was pretty much pointless to argue with him anymore. Instead of being an normal friend who would lie to you and tell you to finish what you started, Gaara was blunt and to the point. He had no sense of hesitation. If you want to do something, do it. If you didn't want to do something, then don't. To him it was as simple as that. Everything was black and white. It was up to her to put some color in his life.

"Ok then. Maybe I will," she spat back at him. She crossed her hands over her chest and planted her feet firmly on the floor. Her actions almost identical to the 5 year old sitting two tables away from her who was throwing a tantrum.

"Do you want a medal?" he said, testing her.

"Yeah, Maybe I do," she fired back.

"Someone's grouchy today," he said lamely, not able to think of a better comeback. This was usually how their conversations went on a good day. They would start on a subject, and something small would usually come up resulting in a series of comebacks and sarcasm until finally one of them would run out of something to say. It was just one big circle

"You know what. I wouldn't talk mister; I'm only upset because SOMEONE just had to get their sand all over my carpet. I told you to make sure you got all of the sand off of your body before you enter my house. I had to vacuum for four hours this morning to get it off. And you know what pissed me off even more? The fact that I know you could've gotten it all off with just the flick of a wrist if YOU HADNT LEFT ME FOR YOUR BLOND BIMBO SECRETARY.

Gaara knew it would be best not to respond. He really did leave her for his blond bimbo secretary, but it wasnt for the reasons Sakura thought. Sure she was a blond, and was a bimbo, but she was his secretary and she told him that he was late for an important meeting. He had intended to miss the meeting entirely to spend the morning with Sakura, but apparently the old farts that help run Suna were demanding that he shows.

The waiter soon came back, a check in his left hand with a few breath mints scattered on top of it. He looked back and forth at the angry couple and slid the check between them. This action was soon met with the death glare of two very angry people, who were so mad that they would probably explode if they saw how pricey their sushi was. Sweat drops glistened on his forehead as he tried his best to not go insane under all the pressure he was under, "You know what," he said picking up the piece of paper leaving the mints, "it's on the house."

A now not so awkward silence settled between the two, and Sakura took a sip of her tea, while Gaara watched her. Sakura put down her cup and let out an "aah" sound before opening her mouth again to start the cycle again. "I think Konoha is better than Suna." She stated as a fact randomly out of the blue. A mischievous look in her eyes just wanting to start a fight.

"You're just trying to push my buttons again, aren't you?"

Sakura let out a grin, "Yeah."

--

--

"_There you go," Hinata said, helping a student of hers put their backpack on, "Now run along to your parents"_

"_Thank you, Ms. Hyuuga!" The kid yelled turning around to wave good-bye to her before finally running to his parents._

_Hinata let out a soft smile as she watched her last student walk away while talking happily to his mom. She couldn't wait to be a mother; it was why she wanted to become a elementary teacher. When she told Tsunade that she wanted to become an elementary teacher she was met with bulging eyes and an open mouth. All her years training to be a ninja going down the drain. _

_The Hokage tried to convince her to at least train the genin, but with Naruto's support, she remained firm on her decision. She wanted to teach children their times tables, not the ways to kill a man. It was wrong. It was so wrong to give a twelve year old a kunai and tell them to kill someone without them loosing their soul._

_She was glad she remained strong for once. She was glad that, of once; she let someone down, because she loved seeing an innocent child's smile. _

_Hinata turned to go back into the building when she spotted a handsome yellow haired man slightly hiding behind a tree. He hid his hands in his pockets to shield them from the cold, and let his nose dig into his scarf. Walking up to her, he wrapped his hand around hers and flashed her his trademark goofy grin, the one that was reserved only for her, and began leading her somewhere. _

"_Hey Hinata," he finally said calmly._

"_Hi, Naruto," she replied, "It's lunchtime, shouldn't you be meeting Sakura?"_

_Naruto laughed, "Not today. Today is a special day. I already told Sakura and she said it was fine that we miss our daily routine."_

"_S-Special day?" she repeated, her face lighting up with a curious air in the process, "Why is today so special? Our anniversary was four days ago."_

_He gave her another silly smile, and walked closer to her pressing his lips on her ear. Closing his eyes, he softly inhaled her scent. Jasmine. "You know, I've never seen you at your work. I have to say, it was so cute seeing you surrounded by children. I can tell you're happy."_

"_Yeah, I am, and it is all thanks to you," she whispered quietly_

_Naruto let out a sudden chuckle, as if it was a total surprise to him that she would say something like that, "Me? I'm just the goofy little boyfriend who can't even remember his girl's anniversary."_

_At the comment, Hinata immediately stopped in her tracks, "Stop it Naruto. Don't ever say that." She placed her hand on his cheek and looked him in the eyes, "You are my everything. I hate it when you degrade yourself. I know life was hard when you were younger, but now…now you have me. You don't need to change a thing. I love that you're my goofy little boyfriend who doesn't remember our anniversary. "_

_Ever since Naruto and she went out she noticed that he had a habit of doing that. At first she thought it was just a few playful comments, but soon they became more and more frequent. He began saying how useless he was, how much he hated living. It was then Hinata began to ever so quietly stepping her foot down. Every time he would say something even remotely upsetting to her she would immediately stop whatever they were doing and tell him that he was amazing. That he didn't need to change a thing about himself. _

_Hinata hate to admit it but she knew the reason why he was like that. It was all because of Sakura. Hinata didn't hate Sakura; in fact Sakura was her best friend. She loved Sakura so much because she was the one who brought them together; she was the one who gave her to push to ask him out. Naruto loved her so much that he was willing to give his life to her. It was such a tragedy that she didn't love him back._

"_I'm sorry Hinata," he said placing his hand over hers. It felt so smooth and soft on his skin, "Sometimes I just get lost in my memories."_

_Hinata let a small pout form on her lips and did her best impression of puppy dog eyes, "Well don't do it again or else."_

"_Or else what," _

"_Or else I'm telling father who really blew the hole through his dojo."_

_Naruto let out an over exaggerated sigh, "I miss the old Hinata. You know, the Hinata who was shy and timid and would faint at the sight of my manliness. I'm not sure if I'm too fond the empowered one who extorts her poor helpless boyfriend."_

"_Oh shush, you," she said lightly hitting him in the stomach. They continued walking, and to where Hinata had no clue, but every time she would bring up the subject he would magically sidestep the subject. In the end she didn't really care where they were going. It was just nice to actually spend some time together with him. _

_Hinata took a good look at the scenery around her and found out that they were back where it all began. Picking off a cherry blossom from her shoulder, Hinata couldn't help but admire the rows of cherry blossoms as the petals slowly fell from the tree. Hinata was speechless, "Naruto…what…I…"_

_Hinata looked up and found Naruto also admiring the view before looking down at her with flushed cheeks. He gave her a gentle smile, almost the ones Hinata saw him give Sakura when she wasn't looking. Finally as if he was suddenly shocked, Naruto quickly fell out of his stupor and untangled his sweaty palms from hers. "I have a poem I wrote you. I want to read it." He nervously patted his pockets trying to figure out where he put it, when with a glee of happiness found it in the pocket inside his jacket. _

"_Is that why you took me here? To read a poem you wrote in your spare time. I didn't know my boyfriend was so deep," _

_Roses are red_

_Violets are blue_

_I love you_

_Will you marry me?_

"_Naruto, that didn't even rhy- Hinata stopped mid sentence as the cheesy poem slowly sunk in. Now when a boy wanted to propose to a girl it was usually at expensive restaurant with candles, flowers, and some cute little catch phrase that makes the whole thing romantic. _

_Hinata looked at Naruto who had already gotten down on one knee with his bright red face as he fidgeted with the ring in his hands holding it up to her. There were no flowers, expensive food, and as much as she hated to admit it the poem sucked, but her heart was racing. Threatening to overflow with love. She loved how the ring shook in his hand, his sweaty palms, red face, and disoriented marriage proposal. She loved it more than white weddings and honeymoons to exotic places. That was why she loved Naruto._

"_Well…" Naruto said slowly, "don't leave me hanging here. Marry Me?"_

"_Oh y-yes, you don't know how much I would love to marry you."_

"_Oh really," Naruto said picking himself up, and carefully holding her hand to place the ring on her finger._

_The ring had barely touched her finger when, Hinata pushed herself away from Naruto. Her face was unsure, and Naruto could visibly tell that she was mustering up the courage to tell him what she was about to tell him_

"_There is one condition though_. _I don't want you to have lunch with Sakura anymore. I-I know you guys share a special team bond, and I would be upset if you asked me to stop talking to Kiba. I-It's just that sometimes I feel like you spend more time with her than you do with me. We're the one's going out, not you and Sakura. I let it go on for so long, now please…please promise me this one thing. You're marrying me, and I want you to only have eyes for me. Only me. Promise me this, and I will marry you."_

"_Hinata…"_

"_Naruto…please…I love you…move than anyone else ever will…more that Sakura."_

_Naruto let out a sigh of defeat, "Ok…I promise."_

_Hinata knew she was being selfish. Sakura was Hinata's best friend, and she hated to tear their friendship apart because she was probably over-reacting or being the jealous girlfriend. It was just that it was true. Naruto did spend every second he could with her, and Hinata always felt that she had to plan around their schedule to spend some time with HER boyfriend. There were rumors spreading all over the village about how much they clung to each other._

_Their grace period was over._

_They could linger over the past for only so long._

--

--

Naruto let out a smile as he walked down the marketplace with his soon to be wife in his arm. It was around lunch, and he was Ickiraku is the other way around." Hinata had been spending her lunches with Naruto planning to take her to a local sushi place that had just opened up a few weeks ago. It was a change of pace from all the ramen he used to eat with Sakura. He needed a change.

Hinata had a slight blush on her cheeks as her fingers were messily interlinked with Naruto's. "Naruto," she said gently with a confused look on her face. It was enough to make him want to gobble her up, "where are we going?

Naruto "Oh Mrs. Uzumaki I'm afraid that is a secret, but I will give you a hint. It begins with s and ends in ushi."

"Sushi?" came Hinata's educated guess. It really didn't take an educated person to figure that out.

"WHAT!?" Naruto whined, "How did you figure that out? It was supposed to be a surprise, and everything. I told that stupid Lee to keep his big mouth shut or else. Oh he is definitely going down."

Hinata put a finger on Naruto's lips to quiet him, "Lee didn't tell me, Naruto…it was uh… a cute little angel that fluttered down from the heavens, landed on my shoulder and whispered secrets into my ear." It was the best Hinata could come up with in such a short time that wouldn't hurt her fiancés pride.

Naruto relaxed slightly at Hinata's explanation, "Was the angel a boy or girl?" His jealous instincts coming in when Hinata just told him an angel was whispering sweet nothings into her ear.

"I swear" came her exasperated reply, "you are so clueless sometimes."

Naruto decided to drop the subject and continue walking in the peace they had managed to keep up. He, however, made a mental note to kick the crap out of Lee at the scrimmage they had tomorrow.

The pair had finally reached the restaurant and Hinata couldn't help but gasp at how gorgeous the restaurant was. She wasn't trying to belittle Naruto, but since Naruto was poor most of their dates ended up at the Ichiraku. "Naruto…I can't. It's too expensive, and I know you'd much rather eat some ramen."

"Hinata, I want today to be special, and eating ramen like we do every day isn't special. I saved up money for us today so don't you worry a bit about the prices. I can afford them," Naruto said, holding onto Hinata for all dear life before she ran back to the Ichiraku.

Hinata sighed at the hopelessness of the situation, and her growling stomach wasn't really disagreeing with the prospect of eating some sushi, "Fine, but we aren't going to spend more than fifty dollars."

Naruto couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Hinata always thought of other people before herself. He truly believed that Hinata was an angel sent to him from the heavens. He didn't deserve her. "Ok, I promise."

Wrapping his hand around her waist, Naruto proceeded to lead Hinata into the restaurant. The inside of the restaurant looked even better than the outside with its Japanese style atmosphere. In the background, Naruto could hear ambient music from a violin and harp being played by musicians in the corner.

"DON'T EVEN TRY AND BLAME IT ON ME YOU THREE EYED FREAK!" There was a violent mistake on the violin at the disturbance, and everyone including Naruto and Hinata turned to look at where the disturbance came from.

"Sakura?" Naruto said, immediately releasing his grip from Hinata, and began walking towards her. Hinata made a slight effort to prevent him from going to by holding onto his hand, but stopped when she realized that she shouldn't have to feel the need to do so. She just sighed as he continually picked the one girl who meant more to him than her.

Naruto walked up to Sakura, and could already feel his blood racing. He hadn't seen her for days, and it felt like forever to him. "Hey Sakura," he said nervously.

Sakura looked up and a warm smile formed on her face, "Naruto!" She immediately pushed herself off of her chair and wrapped her arms around her old friend. "I missed you so much, you idiot. What are you doing her? Certainly not for lunch." She joked.

"Well for your information I am here with Hinata AND we're both here to eat as much sushi as our little tummies want."

"Well if you're here to eat why don't you pull up some chairs and eat with us. We need to catch up on old times," Sakura was already pulling up the chair next to the table in her excitement.

"Sure." Naruto said without hesitation, "Let me just get Hinata. Wait…where is she? Probably at the bathroom."

"Sakura," came a low voice from the person sitting across from her. Naruto had been so excited at the chances of meet his best friend that he didn't notice the company she had. Gaara. For a second, Naruto looked at him with a deadly glare, threatened that his place in Sakura's heart was being threatened.

"Sakura," he repeated a little louder. She was too busy rearranging the table to hear him the first time.

"Hm?" she said giving him half of her attention, "Oh Gaara, what is it?"

"We can't eat with Naruto and Hinata. We have to leave now. Session is going to start soon," he said calmly.

"Oh yeah," she said sadly, gently placing the chair down. She gave Naruto a look of regret. If only they had come earlier, "Well, I guess we could catch up like old times some other time."

"Yeah. I guess." _Or not,_ he thought, "Well I have to go look for Hinata so I guess I'll see you some other time.

"Yeah. See you."

"Bye" Naruto said before turning his back and walking away from her. He went back to the spot where he left Hinata, and he still couldn't find her. After searching the bathroom (even the girls), Naruto found her sitting with her hands folded on her lap on a bench. Taking a seat next to her, Naruto could tell that she was upset, "Hinata, are you mad at me?"

Mad was an understatement in Hinata's opinion, "Naruto, why did you leave me for her again?"

"Not this again," he said with a slight groan. All the time, she was always questioning his love for her, and accusing him of picking Sakura over her. He couldn't stand it anymore. He had promised to stop spending lunch with her for Hinata, and it still wasn't good enough, "I haven't seen her for days Hinata. Can you blame me for being a little bit excited?"

"No," she said a little unsure, "but how do I know that you didn't plan to run into her. For all I know, you knew she was going to be at the sushi house for lunch today."

"I can't believe you would think of something like that. You have no idea what Sakura and I have been through. No idea. I didn't ask you to marry me just for laughs. I love you Hinata, and I'm running out of ways to prove it to you." Naruto was begining to lose control of the volume of his voice and before he knew it he was shaking with anger and found himself almost yelling at her. He had never yelled at Hinata before.

"Naru-

"No! I don't want to hear it. If you can't trust me then maybe…maybe we aren't supposed to get married. Maybe it was all a mistake." He couldn't look at her in the eye anymore. After giving one hard punch to the bench, he walked away hoping that she would stop him. But she didn't. She never really tried.

Hinata watched as she watched Naruto walking away. Hoping that he would stop in the middle of the road, turn around and say that it was all his fault. She watched his back until he was finally gone from her view. Perfect love was only what you saw in the television.

--

--

"Today is going to be an extra special day today," Kakashi said, dumping a heavy chest in the middle of the circle of chairs. Despite its small size, it landed with a big thump, causing some of the empty chairs to slightly rise off of the ground

As soon as Kakashi's students head the words extra, special, and day a ripple of groans could be heard from each of their mouths. "Please don't tell me we are going to have another hug and cry session where we spend most of the day…hugging…and crying." Mizzy said disdainfully while picking at her chipped nail polish.

"Wrong," Kakashi said with a smile on his lips, "It's going to be even better than that."

Another loud groan could be heard from Sakura, "You know, whenever you say better it usually means better for you and worse for us."

"Very perceptive Lola. You deserve a prize. I think you should be our mother," Kakashi said, opening the lock with a loud click.

"Mother?" Sakura had a very confused look plastered all over her face, "What the hell could you possibly mean by that?"

With an almost mischevious grin, Kakashi looked up at his group giving everyone but Gaara chills down their spines, "Oh you'll see. You'll see. Heh Heh Heh Ha Ha HA MWAHAHA."

Everyone else was creeped out again by their teachers manical laugh...that is except Gaara.

**TBC...**

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A/N: Hehe. Didnt think you'd get the next chapter did ya. Well I proved you wrong, and I did it with a pretty evil cliffhanger.Oh geez. Well I hope you liked it. I really need a beta for this story.

Thank you everyone who commented on the last chapter. (The more you comment the faster the tourture of the cliffhanger will end )


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